Provo • Even when a recruit cuts ties with the Cougars, BYU’s Fesi Sitake just can’t bring himself to let go.
Sitake, BYU’s passing game coordinator and the man in charge of recruiting one of the most competitive regions in Southern California, knows players come and go. But he never likes an abrupt ending to a relationship.
“I think there’s just beauty and power in developing and sustaining relationships. Keeping in touch regardless of their decision,” Sitake said. “Everyone comes from unique walks of life.”
Sitake’s steadfast approach — or stubbornness, depending on how you look at it — has turned into a recruiting windfall for BYU. The Cougars have made a living in recent years off of bringing in players who once turned them down.
Some of BYU’s biggest stars — including Keanu Tanuvasa, Carsen Ryan and Andrew Gentry — are leading men in Provo specifically because BYU kept in touch and never closed the door as they went elsewhere.
And on Saturday against Stanford, that approach will be on full display. BYU will be led by quarterback Bear Bachmeier and running back LJ Martin. Both were committed to play for the Cardinal, backed out, and fell back on relationships with BYU to wind up in Utah.
Sometimes it pays to be the best second option.
“It’s critical. I don’t know how many guys in my career I’ve been able to get because I’ve been able to sustain a relationship and foster it,” Sitake said. “It’s paid off.”
This approach didn’t start as a concerted effort. BYU doesn’t have anybody on staff who monitors prospects the Cougars previously recruited and tracks if they are going to hit the transfer portal or back off their commitments.
“It’s hard to anticipate which coach is going to officially be let go, and who is going to hit the portal,“ Sitake said. ”But we all have social media. As soon as something happens, we are usually like, ‘OK, is there anyone that we recruited that might be interested again?’"
Martin and Bachmeier are good examples of this. In Bachmeier’s case, he committed to play for Troy Taylor at Stanford. The quarterback went through spring practice but the coaching staff was rocked when Taylor was fired.
As soon as Bachmeier hit the transfer portal, Sitake was in contact with his high school coach, George Wilson. Sitake recruited Bachmeier, stayed in touch with his family even after he committed to the Cardinal, and was ready to offer him again.
“Some circumstances arose, and I’m here now,” Bachmeier said.
Martin has a similar story. He committed to play for David Shaw at Stanford. But after a disappointing 2022 season, Shaw was fired. BYU played the Cardinal in the final game, scoring 35 points and running the ball 50 times.
“He committed to Stanford pretty early. We had the opportunity to keep recruiting him,” head coach Kalani Sitake said. “He aligned with what we wanted on the field and off the field.”
The Cougars immediately reached out when Martin de-committed.
Running backs coach Harvey Unga developed the relationship and landed the Texas-native.
Martin added, “I had to convince my mom a little bit why I shouldn’t get a Stanford education. But it has worked out.”
It helped that Martin watched BYU run for nearly 400 yards against the Cardinal. Sitake was talking about it in the locker room that night.
“I remember when that conversation surfaced a little after the game of like, ‘Hey, hopefully LJ enjoyed this game.’ I think he did,” Fesi Sitake said.
It underscores the point of how BYU built up this roster. It has over 30 transfers and many of them had relationships with BYU before they made their first college decision.
“The transfer portal is hard because it is such a fast pace in recruiting,” Kalani Sitake said. “How do you really get to know somebody? If you look at the majority of the guys we bring, there is already a connection from before.”
The Cougars are trying to leap into the top 25 on Saturday with a win over Stanford. If it happens, it will be because of the players they kept in touch with along the way.
Bachmeier and Martin both would be starting in Palo Alto. Instead, they are in Cougar blue.
And to Fesi Sitake, that is how recruiting should be.
“To me, one of the beautiful parts of coaching is just developing those relationships,” he said. “You have to keep relationships alive and well, because anything can happen, right?”